Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Administration

Chapter 24SQL Database Administration and Configuration

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Understanding Windows Azure SQL Database configuration
• Understanding server and database management
• Understanding administration tasks

This chapter provides a look at administering and configuring Windows Azure SQL Database. This discussion assumes that you already have a Windows Azure account, and that you have some familiarity with the Azure platform. SQL Database is a platform as a service (PaaS) offering provided as part of the Windows Azure Platform. Based on Microsoft SQL Server, it is a transactional database that includes many of the same SQL Server features that you know and love. Unlike SQL Server, though, you don't need to worry about installing and maintaining the hardware and software in which SQL Database runs. SQL Database is provided as a service, hosted in a Microsoft data center. As such, Microsoft not only takes care of the physical maintenance of the hardware and software layer, but it also offers built-in high availability, enabling you to focus on the important aspects such as database design and development.

GETTING TO KNOW WINDOWS AZURE SQL DATABASE

SQL Database is Microsoft's transactional and relational database offering for cloud computing based on Microsoft SQL Server 2012. It supports many of the features of SQL Server, including tables, primary keys, stored procedures, views, and much more.

SQL Database exposes the tabular data stream interface for T-SQL just like ...